Games Beaten 2018

Anything that is gaming related that doesn't fit well anywhere else
pook99
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by pook99 »

1. Skeleton Boomerang
2. TMNT: Hypersonte Heist (genesis)
3. greedy guns
4. Haunted: Halloween 85
5. Fists elimination tower
6. 222 hearts
7. Archrobo: robotic annhilation
8. King of fighters 94 (neogeo)
9. 88 Heroes (terrible game)
10. Iron Commando (snes) (another terrible game)
11. Ersatz
12. Crystal Cosmos
13. Metal Slug (neogeo)
14. Gunhero
15. Gradius rebirth (wii)
16. Kung fu (nes)
17. Ghosts n goblins (nes)
18. Double Dragon 2(gameboy)
19. Ninja Baseballl batman (arcade)
20. Mega man network transmission (gamecube)
21. Aladin(master system)
22. Rastan (master system)
23. Kung fu kid(master system)
24. Alex Kidd in Shinobi world (master system)
25. GI Joe (nes)
26. Sonic Chaos (master system)
27. Double Dragon(nes)
28. Dick Tracy (genesis)
29. Mega man 2(nes)
30. Final Fight (snes)
31. Ratchet and Clank (ps4)
32. Redeemer
33. Mega Man X3(snes)
34. Nex Machina
35. Doodler
36. O Fox life (sucked, but finished in 15 minutes)
37. Tai fu(ps1)
38. serious sam bogus detour
39. Vox Populi Vox Dei 2
40. Mecho Tales
41. Metal Soldiers 2
42. Atomic Adam episode 1
43. Altered beast: guardians of the realm(gba)
44. Mike Tysons Punch out (nes)
45. Strider 2 (ps1)
46. Contra(nes)
47. Batman returns (snes)
48. Double Dragon 4
49. Megaman (nes)
50. Ninja Gaiden (nes)
51. Ninja Gaiden 2 (nes)
52. Axiom Verge
53. The Evil within 2
54. Entertainment hero
55. Miles and Kilo
56. Momodora: reverie under moonlight
57. Aladdin (genesis)
58. Kick ass commandos
59. Carnage in space: ignition
60. Death and return of superman (snes)
61. Save Dash
62. Ultra Goodnes
63. Lady Sia (gba)
64. goldeneye (n64)
65. Dragons Lair
66. Streets of rage: remake
67. castlevania: dawn of sorrow (ds)
68. Wendy: every witch way (gbc)
69. Kid tripp (switch)
70. Lost Castle
71. Splasher
72. Super C (nes)
73. Castlevania (nes)
74. Super Double Dragon (snes)
75. Guardian
76. Golden axe: revenge of death adder (mame)
77. Double Dragon (arcade)
78. adventures of batman and robin (snes)
79. Heads run
80. Final Fight 2 (snes)
81. Mickey mouse -great circus mystery (snes)
82. Super Punch out (snes)
83. Bionic commando (mame)
84. shovel knight: plague of shadows
85. Castlevania: rondo of blood (turbo cd)
86. Castlevania: dracula x (snes)
87. Ruiner
88. Castlevania: the adventure rebirth(wii)
89. Pavel quest
90. Super castlevania 4 (snes)
91. Operation C (gameboy)
92. Not dying today
93. Double Dragon 3 (nes)
94. Hikibyou 2
95. Bayonetta 2 (switch)
96. Boogerman (snes)
97. Rocking pilot
98. Talent not included
99. Overgrowth
100. Shockman (tg-16)
101. Castlevania 3 draculas curse (nes)
102. Streets of rage 2 (genesis)
103. Loyalty and blood: Viktor origins
104. Mega Man 4 (nes)
105. Contra: shattered soldier (ps2)
106. Mega Man 5 (nes)
107. Final Fight 3 (snes)
108. Target Renegade (nes)
109. Renegade (nes)
110. Smashing the battle
111. Kabuki Quantum fighter (nes)
112. Streets of rage (genesis)
113. Kageki (genesis)
114. Batman (nes)
115. Mega Man 9 (wii)
116. Mega Man 6 (nes)
117. Mega Man 10 (wii)
118. Fist Slash (not beaten, completely impossible last world)
119. Wolfenstein 2
120. Final Fight Gold SUper plus (openbor)
121. World Heroes supreme Justice (openbor)
122. Streets of rage 4 (openbor)
123. Final Fight x (openbor)
124. Tmnt and battletoads(openbor)
125. double dragon revolution (openbor)
126. Beats of rage street fighter edition (openbor)
127. SHiva and lisa (openbor)
128. King of fighters beat em up(openbor)
129. Final Fight apocalypse 2nd edition (openbor)
130. Dejin Makai Zero (openbor)
131. Vengeance of kyo (openbor)
132. Street fighter Taiwan (openbor)
133. Fatal Fury Rebout (openbor)
134. Art of fighting vs. double dragon (openbor)
135. A tale of vengeance (openbor)
136. Double Dragon 1 remix (openbor)
137. Fists of legendary heroes (openbor)
138. Rage of the streets (openbor)
149. Beats of rage: xtra (openbor)
150. Final Rage Chaos (openbor)
151. Street fighter rage world olympic tour(openbor)
152. Rushing beat (openbor)
153. Double dragon: evil forces expand(openbor)
154. Battletoads double dragon: return of the dark forces (openbor)
155. Double Dragon: renegade(openbor)
156. Final Fight Alpha plus(openbor)
157. Beast and Blanka in violent world (openbor)
158. Bloodstained: curse of the moon
159. Fatal Fury rebout 2(openbor)
160. Fatal Fury: Final (openbor)
161. Final Fight DC (openbor)
162. Venture kid
163. Final Fight Boss(openbor)
164. art of fighting: trouble in southtown (openbor)
165. Savant: acsent
166. Gunstar Heroes(genesis)
167. Sega brawlers megamix(openbor)
168. Cocoron (nes)
169. Final Fight heroes(openbor)
170. Dragons of rage EX(openbor)
171. Glitchbuster
172. Robot Legions reborn
173. Charlies adventure
174. Rising Islands
175. Blubblub: Quest of the blob
176. Double dragon zero (openbor)
177. Ladies of rage (openbor)
178. Super Ghouls n ghosts (snes)
179. bionic commando rearmed
180. Tupa
181. Indecision
182. Imperil
183. Jet Buster
184. xmen hunt for mutants(openbor)
185. when it hits the fan
186. dead island retro revenge
187. major Mayham 2 (android)
188. Ninja Striker
189. Techno boy
190. Invert
191. Metal Commando (android)
192. Damnation
193. hyper final fight 2 (openbor)
194. shio
195. Titanfall 2
196. Mortal Kombat: outworld assasins (openbor)
197. Dungeon Gambit boy
198. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (arcade)
199. Art of fighting (neogeo)
200. Shocktroopers (neo geo)
201. street fighter 2 champ edition (openbor)
202. Shadow of the ninja (nes)
203. Art of fighting 2 (neo geo)
204. Pilli adventure
205. Rex
206. Donkey Kong (nes)
207. Ninja Commando (neogeo)
208. Mikey Shorts (android)
209. Bucky O' hare (arcade)
210. Shadow Force(arcade)
211. World Heroes 2 Jet (neo geo)
212. Light Bringer (arcade)
213. Squidlit
214. Art of fighting Beats of rage remix 3 (openbor)
215. Super Blue Boy planet
216. Super Mario Bros 2(snes)
217. World Heroes 2 (snes)
218. Astyanax(nes)
219. Rescue rangers (nes)
220. Life force (nes)
221. Mega man 3 (nes)
222. Contra 3: alien wars (snes)
223. Ghouls n ghosts (genesis)
224. Castle of illusion (genesis)
225. Bonks revenge (tg16)
226. Ninja Spirit (tg16)
227. Legendary axe 2 (tg16)
228. Beats of rage alliance super sayain(openbor)
229. Mega Man unlimited
230. Golden axe 2(genesis)
231. Double Dragon Gold (openbor)
232. Bare knuckle 3 yesterday once more (openbor)
233. Super Mario Lost Levels (snes)
234. Z: escape
235. Squirm
236. Actraiser(snes)
237. Metal Wings (android)
238. Beat Street(android)
239. Crash Bandicoot 3 (ps1)
240. Street fighter 2 (snes)
241. Wonder Knights (android)
242. Super DD (android)
243. Duke Dashington(android)
244. World Heroes 2 (neo geo)
245. King of fighters 95(ps1)
246. Super Mario Land 2: 6 golden coins (game boy)
247. Power Blade 2 (nes)
248. Mega Man: Rock Force


245. King of fighters 95(ps1)
246. Super Mario Land 2: 6 golden coins (game boy)
247. Power Blade 2 (nes)
248. Mega Man: Rock Force

Mega Man Rock Force is a fan game and is definitely worth playing for mega man fans.

The story starts with Mega Man assembling a team of robots that could fight should he ever fail in protecting the world, the team is made up of robot masters from a variety of different mega man games such as bomb man, cutsman, knight man, gyro man, and others. Dr. Light also creates a new robot names justice man who is meant to be just like mega man, in ability and morality. A new group of robot masters goes rogue and mega man sends his rock force to find them but they never return, it is now up to mega man to find and rescue his friends.

The game starts out like any other mega man game, you have an intro stage, and then you get to select the order in which you fight the 8 brand new robot masters. The hook to this game is when you defeat a level, you not only get a new robot masters ability, but you also get to unlock a member of the rock force to play as in future levels. Like in any mm game, every robot master is weak to some weapon, but they are also weak to one of the rock force members. The rock force members all have pretty unique abilities and feel differently than mega man, for example, dive man is really great underwater, tornado man jumps really high, flame man can dash around and so on. It is really cool being able to play through the game as these guys, of course mega man has all the abilities you would expect, charge shot, slide, and a growing arsenal of weapons.

The weapons in this game are decent, not the best in the series, not the worst, you have the standard leaf shield type weapon(the virus shield) the standard weapon that can shoot in 8 directions, and some other cool stuff. My favorite is the charade clone. This weapon produces an explosive clone of mega man that can ram into things and do big damage, but it is also really good to navigate tricky platofrm sections, basically create a clone of mega man and if it falls down a pit you dont lose a life, if you make it to the end of the section you can call the real mega man to your location which really helps when you dont feel confident in passing a tricky series of jumps.

The game is broken down into: 1 intro stage, 8 robot masters, 4 fusion masters that pop up when you defeat the original 8 bosses, 1 ultimate fusion master, and a final fortress with 3 really difficult stage. The fusion masters are a cool idea which actually give the game some replayability, depending on which boss you defeat last you get one of 2 sets of fusion masters which encourages a 2nd playthrough to see the 4 you did not see on your first run.

The level design is solid, each level is unique and the challenge is just right, it is definitely not an easy game, but it is not quite as difficult as Mega Man Unlimited or MM 9. The bosses are all very unique as well and really fun to fight and learn their patterns, the only boss and level I hated was virus man, when you get hit by certain enemies(and the boss) you get infected with a temporary virus that turns off your charge shot, your acquired weapons, and reverses your controls. The whole level and boss fight are just really not fun and the game would have been better off without him.

SImilar to MM9, this game has collectable bolts, a save feature, and a shop that lets you stock up on e-tanks and other helpful items. It foregoes the usual rush forms and just gives you the rush coil, but you also get access to Eddie who is summonable and really helpful as he randomnly drops e-tanks, and tango a buzzsaw type weapon that I never used but I probably should have.

Overall, Mega Man Rock Force is a very good game, it has everything a mega man fan would want, and is completely free to download and play. Well worth it for any mega man fan looking to play a new mega man game while they wait for 11 to release.
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by Markies »

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2018!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*

1. The Granstream Saga (PS1)
2. Perfect Dark (N64)
*3. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (PS1)*
4. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (XBOX)
5. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
*6. Pikmin (GCN)*
*7. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (N64)*
8. Shining Force II (GEN)
*9. X-Men Vs. Street Fighter (PS1)*
*10. Mafia (XBOX)*
11. James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire (GCN)
12. ChuChu Rocket! (SDC)
*13. Super Metroid (SNES)*
14. Final Fantasy II (NES)
15. Devil May Cry (PS2)
16. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (GEN)
17. Secret of Evermore (SNES)
18. Test Drive: Eve of Destruction (PS2)
19. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GCN)
*20. Paper Mario (N64)*
21. Grandia II (SDC)
22. Ghostbusters: The Video Game (PS2)
23. Bomberman Hero (N64)
24. OutRun (GEN)

25. Dragon Warrior IV (NES)

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I completed Dragon Warrior IV on the Nintendo Entertainment System this afternoon!

I've had such a long and strange trip with the Dragon Quest series. I started with Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2 and looking back, I really enjoyed that game and the polish that it had. Then, I started with the original Dragon Warrior game. Though I respected it, I really did not enjoy playing it. Then, I played through Dragon Warrior II and really enjoyed it. Even though it is the black sheep of the first trilogy, the game flowed so much easier for me. I then played Dragon Warrior VII which went on and on and on. I then played Dragon Warrior III, which also went on and on and was a real slog to go through. So, with mixed signals, Dragon Warrior IV finally stepped up to the plate and I was ready to see the culmination of the NES Dragon Warrior games.

So, apparently, even numbered Dragon Quest games are the best. Dragon Warrior IV takes everything it had learned from the first three games and made something special. It took the best parts, added a whole new spice and then made one of the best NES RPG's on the console. The game introduces 8 different characters, including the main hero character all through the first couple chapters of the game. Each chapter is unique with its own feel, music and place on the world map. Then, you gather them up and take on the world together. It is such a fantastic mechanic that works so well for the game. I loved playing as a Merchant or two dancers or a knight with a Heal Slime as a friend. Once they are together, there is one single goal and each part gets you closer to that goal. The dungeons are brief with healing spaces for respites. They are also parsed enough where you don't need too much extra grinding. It is a Dragon Quest game, so there is grinding, but it's not constant. You can use other characters to alleviate inventory space. Together, each character is unique and it's enjoyable to choose your favorites. It is just a fun and enjoyable experience to play through.

Much like grinding, there are fights where you can't control anything and you just die along with annoying enemies you can't hit. But those are few and far between and not enough to sour the experience. It was worth it to play through the first three games to enjoy this masterpiece. It really showed how much they learned and the culmination of the original JRPG series on the NES.
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MrPopo
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by MrPopo »

Who did you end up using in your final party?
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by pierrot »

I also started with Dragon Quest VIII, and it remains my favorite in the series, from what I've played. The second game I played was the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV (although, really, it's a port of the PS1 remake, but I digress). I thought it was good, but I didn't really like Torneko, and felt like it was a bit drawn out by playing through the early chapters, before getting everyone together for the main chapters, even though it's a neat idea. I'm sure I would have really hated it with the AI battles in the NES version, though.

I'm of the other mind, that the odd numbered titles are "the good ones," with the exception of VIII. Although, I haven't played VII, IX, or XI. I'm a little concerned about where I'm at with the series, in terms of titles I haven't played. I was randomly watching a video the other day of a Japanese person, who played all the titles as they were released in Japan, ranking the numbered games in the series, and his ranking especially worried me. These were the rankings he had:
  1. XI
  2. III
  3. VIII
  4. V
  5. I
  6. IV
  7. VI
  8. II
  9. IX
  10. VII

He left out X because of the different game style, and I can understand that. Basically, how he had his rankings for #2-8 I felt was pretty much beyond reproach. I don't really like III as much as V and VIII, but his points about the world map, and traveling around to places that approximate Earth, made me think more fondly on the game than I normally tend to (it's something I really like about Terranigma, too), so that's fair. I don't think there's really a bad game in the Dragon Quest series, but I do find Dragon Quest II to be the most troublesome, and the fact that he put VII and IX below II makes me really worried about those being the main two I have left to play in the series. (I really want to play XI, but it seems pretty massive, and I don't have any PS4, let alone a Japanese PS4. So in some ways I'm okay with waiting a decade or so before picking it up for pennies.)

By the way, Markies, which versions of I, II, and III did you play?
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by PartridgeSenpai »

Partridge Senpai's 2018 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017
* indicates a repeat

1-20

21. Deadbolt (Steam)
22. Legend of Grimrock 2 (Steam)
23. The Witness (PS4)
24. Uurnog (PC)
25. Fire Emblem Warriors (Switch)
26. Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)
27. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
28. Magicka 2 (PS4)*
29. Tales of Phantasia (PSP)
30. BOXBOXBOY! (3DS)
31. Blossom Tales (Switch)
32. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (Steam)
33. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (PS4)
34. Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius: Forever With Me (PSP)
35. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
36. Runbow Pocket (3DS)
37. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (3DS)
38. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (3DS)
39. Mega Man ZX (DS)

40. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)

I LOVED Mario's foray into open world game design on the Switch, and when I saw that Breath of the Wild was 25% off on Amazon last week, I thought why not pick it up and Link's open world adventure a try: I was certainly not disappointed! It's a game not without its faults, but what it does well is SO good that the bad is worth pushing through to get to the far more frequent good stuff :D . I got all 120 shrines, 203 Korok seeds, and did all the memories and story quests (but none of the DLC) and it took me about 60 hours.

LOTS of design changes this go around for LoZ. Even though it's a series that's fairly used to pretty significant design decisions, none have been so ambitious before. You have no dedicated sword, shield, or bow, because EVERYTHING has durability and will eventually break. As a result, any weapons you find lying around, even ones dropped from vanquished enemies, can be picked up and used as your own (with one-handed swords, one-handed wands, two-handed swords and axes, and two-handed spears/polearms as your 4 weapon choices). You have a whole slew of armor to pick up (that doesn't break, thank god) that can give you all sorts of bonuses ranging from swimming faster to dealing more damage. No more Epona (unless you have her amiibo): You gotta go out and find and tame your own horses to stable and ride! You can collect all sorts of crafting materials like plants, ores, and monster parts to cook meals and potions to heal yourself (no more finding hearts to heal!) as well as eventually use them to improve your armors to provide set bonuses for wearing a whole set of armor at once. This is all on top of a giant, almost entirely contiguous open world you have to explore. If there's a mountain, you can scale it. If there's an ocean, you can swim it. If there's a house, you can go in it. Even the 4 dungeons are all located in actual space within the world and are very unlike any way dungeons have been done before. All this with nearly no loading screens outside of fast traveling or doing shrines.

Your exploration and fighting are only limited by your hearts and, another new addition, your stamina bar! You can find shrines spread all throughout the kingdom that contain challenge rooms inside, the contents ranging from physics mini-games to combat trials to puzzles to solve. For every one you get you get a spirit orb, and for every 4 spirit orbs you get you can either get a new fifth of a stamina bar or another heart container (up to 30 hearts and/or 3 full stamina bars). Only 120 shrines means that you'll technically be short 12 orbs from having all of both, but those 12 shrines are found in the DLC, from what I've heard (and being maxed out like that is hardly essential if you have good armor, weapons, etc.).

As a result of all this open-world stuff, the game is extremely non-linear, even by the standards of most non-linear games. The closest DNA in the Zelda family design-wise would be something like Majora's Mask, where collecting all the masks gets you a mask that lets you WRECK the final boss, as well as letting you learn a lot more about the world and solve so many more of its problems. Breath of the Wild cranks that up to 11, as even almost all of the story and all 4 main dungeons are technically entirely optional (although you're certainly highly encouraged to do them), as nothing (short of your ability) is stopping you from immediately running to Ganon to kill him in just around 40 minutes. I thought the story was quite good for a Zelda game. Due to the non-linear nature, it wasn't really at the quality of Skyward Sword's story for me, but the way they approach Zelda's character was really interesting and was genuinely touching. The world building is hit and miss, with the Gerudo being the obvious standout race among the 4 present, but it's all very engaging nonetheless (the Gorons were my favorite (THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH AND IT'S SO PRECIOUS <3 )).

The game isn't without its flaws, though. Cooking takes AGES, only being able to cook one thing at a time, needing to pick each ingredient from your inventory and put them into your hand, then drop them into the cook pot and watch (or skip) the little cutscene to then get your single food item takes FOREVER when you start cooking a lot of stuff at once. This isn't something huge, but it's something that just came back to irritate me, especially given you need to FIND a cookpot in the world to cook in. You can carry around and light your own fires to wait at (you can't do the Skyrim "wait" just anywhere, it needs to be at a fire, and even then you can only wait until 6am, 12pm, or like 7pm), but you can't carry your own cookpot for whatever reason.

Most of my complaints amount to something similarly small, and this is honestly one of the biggest ones (which shows you just how small these problems are). My only other really major complaint other than those would be that I wish you could set hotkeys to swap outfits more quickly and rebind the buttons (because using X to jump and holding B to run, even though you can swap those, is really awkward compared to most other open world games' control schemes, and if I'd been using the joycons more instead of the pro controller I would've gone absolutely nuts).

My last design complaint is somewhat spoilery but something I just HAVE to complain about to someone XP
I think it's absolutely ridiculous that the Hero's Clothes that you get for beating every shrine are SO bad when you get them and that you need SO many dragon parts to upgrade them to something awesome. It's not like they're easy to get. You've gotta do every shrine! Why make you grind like crazy with the immensely boring dragon pieces? to make the coolest armor actually worth using at all? If the dragons were tough enemies you have to fight, that'd be one thing, but they're no fun to grind at all, especially with the waiting system as weird as it is. When it's way easier to have a near fully/fully upgraded ancient armor set by that point, I have no idea why the Hero's Clothes are such a bitch to upgrade. /rantover :P


Edit: I can't believe I totally forgot to talk about presentation! This game's presentation is faaantastic~. The graphics are beautiful, with the enemies and friendly NPC's all having wonderful designs that make them look vibrant and unique. The music is also amazing. This has to be one of the best Zelda soundtracks in recent memory for sure. The only flaw I'd mention about presentation is that the game has some pretty regular framerate dips in areas with lots of particle/grass effects. So in the middle of a grassy forest on flying around a volcano spitting up ash, the framerate is gonna stutter pretty bad. It's nothing that ever made the game unplayable, but it's absolutely something that's impossible to miss and is always annoying when it happens.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. The good in Breath of the Wild far, FAR outweighs the bad. This has certainly topped Majora's Mask as my favorite 3D Zelda to play (not by that much, but it has still topped it). Nintendo didn't make a perfect game, but they made a world that, given its expansive size, feels alive in a way I've never felt any other open world game feel, and it's a truly impressive feat just in that regard on top of being loads of fun to play :D
Last edited by PartridgeSenpai on Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Levelup7
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by Levelup7 »

The last game that I beat, and it damn sure gave me a struggle was final Fantasy 7. That game kicked my butt the whole way thru. But it was worth it in the end once I finally completed it
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by nullPointer »

The List So Far:

24. Battletoads [NES] [Together Retro - 08/2018]
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I can't accurately sum up in words the feeling of unadulterated elation I felt upon beating BattleToads. I have been playing this game on and off for decades, and yet I only just beat it this year. Much to my chagrin I can accurately say that I've played this game on and off for 30 years, and I've beaten it a grand total of one time. Still, what a brilliantly conceived work of interactive digital entertainment.

I can't accurately sum up in words the feeling of peaceful resolve that I don’t' ever have to play this game again unless purely by some purely masochistic whim. I've played it on and off for 30 years and only beaten it once! What an utter piece of miserable shite!

And thus sums up my experience with BattleToads. It's purely a love/hate affair. I have recently described BattleToads on a couple of occasions as being a bi-polar game, and for my part at least, that's the description that sticks. BattleToads is an amalgamation of some really great ideas some of which are almost wholly unique to this game. Unfortunately (by my reckoning at least) these ideas encapsulate a bitter core of spiteful difficulty, hell bent on trolling the player at nearly every turn.

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Let's first talk about some of those good points. The presentation in BattleToads is on point. This is a nice looking game, particularly for an 8-bit title. The graphics aren't' quite up to 16 bit standards, but they're also not far off. The music, if not particularly memorable, is likewise competent and well executed. BattleToads is also in no way short on game play ideas, in fact almost every level has some unique hook. Some levels play it fairly straight as a platforming beat em' up, but these are in the minority. One level has you racing vertically downward against an impossibly fast rat in an effort to reach and defuse bombs before the rat can detonate them. Another level has you riding a menagerie of giant snakes who route you through trap filled segments and otherwise attempt to dislodge you. In another level you ride a 'clinger-cycle' across floors, walls, and ceilings in a race against a ball of energy that's at least 1.5X as fast as you are. The final level is another vertically oriented level that has you climbing a tall spinning tower. Some sections of the tower spin under their own power whereas other sections require you to run on tower's platforms in order to make it spin via your own locomotion.

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And then there are the notorious auto-scrolling 'turbo tunnel' levels (actually only one of these levels is actually called 'turbo tunnel', but as a kid I called all of them 'turbo tunnels' and that's what stuck). In these levels you'll be riding on some sort of vehicle while you dodge obstacles and jump over gaps. In order of appearance the vehicles appearing in this sort of level are a hoverbike, a surf board, and a miniature fighter jet(?). Admittedly the surfboard level is considerably easier than the other two, but it also actually plays a bit differently as well. The remaining two levels are often cited as the hardest in the game. They both start off reasonably enough but by the end, each of them has you moving through obstacles at breakneck speed requiring perfect timing of inputs. The folks who cite these levels as being the most difficult in the game aren't necessarily wrong … but it's also not the whole picture. Even aside from the 'turbo tunnels', Battletoads is a game that takes great sadistic joy in trolling its' players. Personally I struggled hardest on the rat race and clinger winger levels (enough so that I even made a ranty post about it, lol). Rote repetition, memorization of level placements, and (nearly) perfect timing are all required to clear the levels in Battletoads. A dash of luck certainly doesn't hurt either. It's as if Rare took all those great gameplay ideas and kept on turning up the intensity until the game starts to become decidedly un-fun. It would be like slowly turning up the volume on your favorite song until blood starts to trickle from your ears. It's still a great song, but holy crap, enough is enough!

Image Image

Your enjoyment of Battletoads will boil down to your patience for difficult gameplay, frequent deaths, and limited continues. If you possess that sort of skill and patience, Battletoads will reward you for it in the form of interesting new ideas and mechanics. If you don't have the necessary patience (and often even if you do) Battletoads will continually test it almost from the word go. I cautiously recommend this game on the basis of its historical legacy and spectacle, but just know that its reputation as one of the most difficult games on NES is well earned.
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by Markies »

MrPopo wrote:Who did you end up using in your final party?


Hero, Alena, Ragnar and Cristo.

I was using the White Mage of Nara for a while instead of Cristo. But, once I gave Cristo the Sword of Miracles and his spells started getting better, he became my party. I then used Nara's healing spells between fights.

pierrot wrote:By the way, Markies, which versions of I, II, and III did you play?


I played all the NES versions. I now own and have beaten the 4 NES Dragon Warrior games.

I am really excited to play the remakes of 1-3 though. I've heard the Super Famicom and GameBoy remakes are really good. They fixed many of my complaints and just made the experience that much more enjoyable. I just wanted to play the originals first to see how it started.
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by MrPopo »

I'm surprised you stuck with Cristo and his Beat/Defeat lust. Other two are very solid, with maybe switching Ragnar for one of the black mages if that's what you like. Alena is a machine.
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pook99
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by pook99 »

nullPointer wrote:The List So Far:

24. Battletoads [NES] [Together Retro - 08/2018]
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I can't accurately sum up in words the feeling of unadulterated elation I felt upon beating BattleToads. I have been playing this game on and off for decades, and yet I only just beat it this year. Much to my chagrin I can accurately say that I've played this game on and off for 30 years, and I've beaten it a grand total of one time. Still, what a brilliantly conceived work of interactive digital entertainment.

I can't accurately sum up in words the feeling of peaceful resolve that I don’t' ever have to play this game again unless purely by some purely masochistic whim. I've played it on and off for 30 years and only beaten it once! What an utter piece of miserable shite!

And thus sums up my experience with BattleToads. It's purely a love/hate affair. I have recently described BattleToads on a couple of occasions as being a bi-polar game, and for my part at least, that's the description that sticks. BattleToads is an amalgamation of some really great ideas some of which are almost wholly unique to this game. Unfortunately (by my reckoning at least) these ideas encapsulate a bitter core of spiteful difficulty, hell bent on trolling the player at nearly every turn.

Image Image

Let's first talk about some of those good points. The presentation in BattleToads is on point. This is a nice looking game, particularly for an 8-bit title. The graphics aren't' quite up to 16 bit standards, but they're also not far off. The music, if not particularly memorable, is likewise competent and well executed. BattleToads is also in no way short on game play ideas, in fact almost every level has some unique hook. Some levels play it fairly straight as a platforming beat em' up, but these are in the minority. One level has you racing vertically downward against an impossibly fast rat in an effort to reach and defuse bombs before the rat can detonate them. Another level has you riding a menagerie of giant snakes who route you through trap filled segments and otherwise attempt to dislodge you. In another level you ride a 'clinger-cycle' across floors, walls, and ceilings in a race against a ball of energy that's at least 1.5X as fast as you are. The final level is another vertically oriented level that has you climbing a tall spinning tower. Some sections of the tower spin under their own power whereas other sections require you to run on tower's platforms in order to make it spin via your own locomotion.

Image Image

And then there are the notorious auto-scrolling 'turbo tunnel' levels (actually only one of these levels is actually called 'turbo tunnel', but as a kid I called all of them 'turbo tunnels' and that's what stuck). In these levels you'll be riding on some sort of vehicle while you dodge obstacles and jump over gaps. In order of appearance the vehicles appearing in this sort of level are a hoverbike, a surf board, and a miniature fighter jet(?). Admittedly the surfboard level is considerably easier than the other two, but it also actually plays a bit differently as well. The remaining two levels are often cited as the hardest in the game. They both start off reasonably enough but by the end, each of them has you moving through obstacles at breakneck speed requiring perfect timing of inputs. The folks who cite these levels as being the most difficult in the game aren't necessarily wrong … but it's also not the whole picture. Even aside from the 'turbo tunnels', Battletoads is a game that takes great sadistic joy in trolling its' players. Personally I struggled hardest on the rat race and clinger winger levels (enough so that I even made a ranty post about it, lol). Rote repetition, memorization of level placements, and (nearly) perfect timing are all required to clear the levels in Battletoads. A dash of luck certainly doesn't hurt either. It's as if Rare took all those great gameplay ideas and kept on turning up the intensity until the game starts to become decidedly un-fun. It would be like slowly turning up the volume on your favorite song until blood starts to trickle from your ears. It's still a great song, but holy crap, enough is enough!

Image Image

Your enjoyment of Battletoads will boil down to your patience for difficult gameplay, frequent deaths, and limited continues. If you possess that sort of skill and patience, Battletoads will reward you for it in the form of interesting new ideas and mechanics. If you don't have the necessary patience (and often even if you do) Battletoads will continually test it almost from the word go. I cautiously recommend this game on the basis of its historical legacy and spectacle, but just know that its reputation as one of the most difficult games on NES is well earned.


Congratulations, I was in the same boat as you, battletoads was also my game that I never finished and finally resolved to finish it last year. It is a big accomplishment and feels great when it is finally over, also as hard as it is I think beating it removes some of the mystique, I have not went back for another run but I plan on doing so eventually and I think it will be much easier the next time I do.
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